Composites with tuned effective magnetic permeability

Pendry et al. [J. B. Pendry, A. J. Holden, D. J. Robbins, and W. J. Stewart, IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech. 47, 2075 (1999)] and Smith et al. [D. R. Smith, W. J. Padilla, D. C. Vier, S. C. Nemat-Nasser, and S. Schultz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 4184 (2000)] have shown that the effective magnetic permeability, μ, of free space can be rendered negative over a certain frequency range by a periodic arrangement of very thin conductors with suitable magnetic resonance properties, the so-called split-ring resonators. Because of its rather bulky architecture, this structure does not lend itself to a proper integration into a reasonably thin real composite structural panel. To remedy this fundamental barrier, we invented a new magnetic resonator consisting of very thin folded plates that are suitably nested within one another to form folded-doubled resonators (FDRs) that can be integrated into an actual composite panel. Measurements, using a focused beam electromagnetic characterization system combined with time-domain numerical simulations of the reflection and transmission coefficients of such a composite slab have revealed that indeed the composite has a negative μ over a frequency range of about 9.1–9.35 GHz [S. Nemat-Nasser, S. C. Nemat-Nasser, T. A. Plaisted, A. Starr, and A. Vakil Amirkhizi, in Biomimetics: Biologically Inspired Technologies, edited by Y. Bar Cohen (CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2006)]. Thus, it has become possible to construct a structural composite panel with negative index of refraction by simultaneously creating negative effective ε and μ [V. G. Veselago, Sov. Phys. Usp. 10, 509 (1968); R. A. Shelby, D. R. Smith, and S. Schultz, Science 292, 77 (2001); A. F. Starr, P. M. Rye, D. R. Smith, and S. Nemat-Nasser, Phys. Rev. B 70, 113102 (2004)].